OSS Advocates File Human Rights Complaint Against SA Election Body
9 Sep 2008
9 Sep 2008
The head of South Africa's government open source working group, the chief technical officer of the State IT Agency (Sita) and The Shuttleworth Foundation, have laid a complaint with the Human Rights Commission (HRC) against the Independent Electoral Commission (IEC) for excluding non-Internet Explorer users from it website.
As reported last week the IEC website does not allow users access to the website if they are not using Internet Explorer.
The complaint to the HRC has been laid by Aslam Raffee, chair of government's OSS and Open Standards Working Group, Daniel Mashao, chief technical officer of Sita, and Helen King of The Shuttleworth Foundation.
The complaint says that, "unlike the vast majority of websites on the world wide web, and unlike other South African government websites, this website [the IEC website] is not accessible to viewers, except those who have purchased a particular software product from a specific software vendor.
"The consequence is that anyone attempting to access the IEC site is presented with a refusal of access if the person does not obtain the proprietary software not only for a specific browser but for a specific operating system. Anyone using a different browser cannot access the site, and therefore cannot access the IEC information."
The complaint goes on to say that it is "essential that appropriate control is exercised over the imposition of technology which impacts on delivery of government services".
The complaint also says that it is "mandatory to comply with minimum interoperability standards (MIOS) for the public service as it is essential for seamless and integrated service delivery".
"The IEC's decision to make its website inaccessible to everyone except for purchasers of a proprietary product violates the rights set out in the Constitution."
Among other violations of the human rights the complaint highlights that the "Bill of Rights states that everyone has the right of access to information held by the State ... The IEC can have no objection to making the content of the IEC website available since it already makes that content available to Microsoft customers. The imposition of a requirement that in order to access information from the IEC South Africans should purchase software from a particular vendor is contrary to core of the right of access to information."
The complainants say that government bodies should never force people to use a particular proprietary vendor's products, should not favour a particular proprietary vendor's products, should never require people to purchase a particular proprietary vendor's products, should adhere to open standards, especially those set out in the MIOS; and government bodies should support free and open source software.
As reported last week the IEC website does not allow users access to the website if they are not using Internet Explorer.
The complaint to the HRC has been laid by Aslam Raffee, chair of government's OSS and Open Standards Working Group, Daniel Mashao, chief technical officer of Sita, and Helen King of The Shuttleworth Foundation.
The complaint says that, "unlike the vast majority of websites on the world wide web, and unlike other South African government websites, this website [the IEC website] is not accessible to viewers, except those who have purchased a particular software product from a specific software vendor.
"The consequence is that anyone attempting to access the IEC site is presented with a refusal of access if the person does not obtain the proprietary software not only for a specific browser but for a specific operating system. Anyone using a different browser cannot access the site, and therefore cannot access the IEC information."
The complaint goes on to say that it is "essential that appropriate control is exercised over the imposition of technology which impacts on delivery of government services".
The complaint also says that it is "mandatory to comply with minimum interoperability standards (MIOS) for the public service as it is essential for seamless and integrated service delivery".
"The IEC's decision to make its website inaccessible to everyone except for purchasers of a proprietary product violates the rights set out in the Constitution."
Among other violations of the human rights the complaint highlights that the "Bill of Rights states that everyone has the right of access to information held by the State ... The IEC can have no objection to making the content of the IEC website available since it already makes that content available to Microsoft customers. The imposition of a requirement that in order to access information from the IEC South Africans should purchase software from a particular vendor is contrary to core of the right of access to information."
The complainants say that government bodies should never force people to use a particular proprietary vendor's products, should not favour a particular proprietary vendor's products, should never require people to purchase a particular proprietary vendor's products, should adhere to open standards, especially those set out in the MIOS; and government bodies should support free and open source software.
Source: http://www.tectonic.co.za
